Switched Places
by Luinlothana
Summary: The two most famous elves in fantasy switch places. And they are not necessarily taking it well. How much does it take to convince someone he is someone else when everything seems to be in opposition to his memories?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Most obviously, I own nothing. Everything here belongs to J. R. R. Tolkien (well, Christopher Tolkien now, I suppose), R. A. Salvatore and a few other nameless people. I believe you can guess what is whose.

Dedication: To She-Cat. And not just because I simply love her stories. It was because of her slip of pen (keyboard?) the story came to be in the first place. That mistake is now corrected and long forgotten but it gave me an idea to write this some time ago.

A/N: I'm not a native English speaker so the text may contain a few mistakes (It's good thing to say to excuse myself, especially if that's true, never mind I've had contact with the language for about as long as I remember). And even if I was one I couldn't probably avoid a few misspellings during typing. Unfortunately computers still aren't smart enough to point out all the mistakes.

This fic was written some time after I got the idea for it (see above) but at first it wasn't meant to be published. Or at least not before I had the ending for it (though I do have a few ideas – I just haven't decided which one to choose yet) and time to update at least one chapter a month. But not long ago I decided to send it and give all those who miraculously found liking for my writing a sign that I am still alive and something to read until I have time to type and send next chapters for my other fics.

Summary: Most obviously AU (double, I guess). Basically two most famous elves in fantasy switch places. And they are not necessarily taking it well. How much does it take to convince someone he is someone else when everything seems to be in opposition to his memories? Well, I offer you a chance to find out in this case. Rated PG-13 just to be safe.

Switched Places

Chapter 1

Drizzt and Bruenor were just heading home after a short hunt, they decided to went on when the dwarf felt a bit tired by the never-ending dealing with merchants and issues that suddenly seemed to inquire his expertise. They were already getting close to the edge of a forest when Drizzt heard some kind of a sound. It wasn't unpleasant, on contrary. It was mysterious, yet somehow felt familiar. It could be defined as some sort of music but it wasn't played on any instrument known to him. Possibly it could be sang by some sort of choir but not a choir of any creatures he knew of. The melody was calming and monotonous nearly like a lullaby.

He closed his eyes for a second and the melody stopped abruptly. When he opened eyes again he was sitting in a completely unfamiliar place with an unknown man staring at him. That at least was explainable. After all it isn't every day that you see a drow appearing in front of you out of thin air.

Drizzt rose his hands in a calming gesture in order to stop the man from attacking him before he has a chance to explain and gasped as soon as he saw them. Skin on his hands was milk-white. He turned a bit to meet Bruenor's gaze in order to find out what does his friend have to say on the matter and nearly gasped again upon realisation that the dwarf whom he took for Bruenor at first actually looks nothing like his friend. At that moment the man decided to speak.

"Legolas, are you all right? The blue light that came upon you seemed very strange. I haven't heard of anything like that happening ever since Angmar was defeated"

At that point Drizzt decided it's high time to clear up some things.

"What did you call me? What light? And most importantly, who are you anyway?"

Those questions left Aragorn with his mouth hanging open.

Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas had been following the orks that took Merry and Pippin for about a day. They were racing with time not thinking much about anything but the chase and the happenings that led to the end of their fellowship. They only stopped when the setting sun made it possible not to notice any important tracks.

At their stop for a night Legolas felt suddenly a wave of overwhelming warmth and noticed that a strange light surrounded his body. He blinked and realised that he is walking through a forest he had never seen before. He thought, that maybe against his all customs he drifted away getting completely lost in his thoughts during the chase, without even realising it. Even though he wrote the thought off as hardly probable he looked at the sun to find out what hour it may be. Very soon he realised that it was one of the worst decisions in his long life.

He felt as if a white hot iron was just pressed to his eyes. Hissing quietly in pain he shut his eyelids tightly in hope to lessen the pain a bit. He walked like that for a few moments using the sound of heavy dwarvish steps to guide him. When he opened his eyes after a while the whole world was blurry to him and there were multi-coloured spots dancing before him. His eyes still hurt but noticeably less then before. He made an attempt to look around a bit.

On his side he could see someone walking. From what he could work out the person was a dwarf. He decided that it must be Gimli. Aragorn was nowhere in sight at the moment but it wasn't impossible for the ranger to run a bit sideways to examine some track. He was about to speak to ensure his suspicions when suddenly another person appeared. She sounded like a woman but he still wasn't able to see clearly enough to say as much as what race she belonged to. The only thing he could be sure about was that she was neither a dwarf nor a hobbit.

"Here you are. I've been searching for you for quite a while. You weren't back on time and those merchants came asking to speak with da so I decided to look for you. You nearly got me worried."

Legolas was having a hard time trying to fully comprehend what she said. She seemed to know them somehow but he could have sworn he has never met her before in his life. Even if he couldn't see clearly her voice was completely unknown to him. He decided to answer sticking to the part of the sentence he could understand.

"But my lady, what could possibly happen to us in the woods? I remember, that when she was still alive, my mother used to say that. . ."

he stopped when he heard a sudden gasp.

"Are you all right?" the woman asked

"I believe so. What made you think otherwise?"

"You were about to quote your mother."

"And what is possibly wrong with that, my lady? She was a very wise person. I held a great respect towards her and my love for her still haven't died in my heart. . ."

"That does it! I don't know what happened to you but most definitely you are not well. You need to rest. Come on, you are coming with me."

He felt himself being dragged by the woman in the direction unknown to him. The situation was at best strange and he slowly started loosing hope for any clarification in the near future.

"Beg your pardon, my lady, I won't object to following you but would you be so kind to remind me who you are?"

He heard another gasp. Most obviously he said something wrong again. To make the situation worse his eyes still refused to work properly.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Most obviously, I own nothing. Everything here belongs to J. R. R. Tolkien (well, Christopher Tolkien now, I suppose), R. A. Salvatore and a few other nameless people. I believe you can guess what is whose.

Switched Places

Chapter 2

It took Aragorn quite a while to realise that he was staring at his friend speechlessly. He would have thought the whole thing to be the elf's joke but his tone was to honest and too surprised for this to be true. Not too mention that Legolas would have known better than to joke like that in their situation. But to be honest he didn't have a slightest idea what to do if his friend wasn't joking.

"Don't you remember anything, Legolas? We were chasing orks who have taken Merry and Pippin after the fight yesterday. . ."

Seeing the lack of comprehension Strider broke in the middle of the sentence. He glanced at Gimli only to find him as lost as he was and completely shocked.

"Maybe we will start somewhere else. /you do remember lord Thranduil, don't you?"

"Do I remember who? I don't recall anybody by such name. I don't know of whom you speak, I'm sorry."

Aragorn tried to keep calm.

"Do you at least remember Eryn Lasgalen, Legolas? You grew up there and spent there most of your life after all."

"I'm sorry but I've never heard of the place. And I still don't have any idea who you are."

Aragorn and Gimli exchanged glances. If they ever thought that it could not get any worse after falling of Gandalf, breaking of the fellowship, death of Boromir and their hobbit friends being captured they now saw clearly how wrong they were. Aragorn sighed in defeat.

"I am Aragorn, also known by the names of Strider, Elessar or finally Estel. When we met for the first time you got to call me by the last of them. On your side sits Gimli, son of Gloin. . . by the Valor, Legolas, you must remember something!"

"I seem to remember quite a few things, Aragorn. The only problem is that those memories do not fit in any way to what seem to be reality. And what was the name you used to address me with? I'm afraid it's unfamiliar as well."

Aragorn took a deep breathe. Gimli, quite wisely remained silent. After all, elves were known for their 'disagreements' with dwarves and if Legolas lost his memory it didn't seem very wise to convince him to befriend a dwarf just like that.

"In other words someone or something replaced your memories by some kind of dreams. This in not good. If I was to name one person that comes to my mind to be responsible for that it would be Saruman, the master of illusion. Finding the ones to blame is something to bee dwelt upon later though. For the most current matters – your name is Legolas, you are the only soon of Thranduil, lord of Eryn Lasgalen. We were part of a fellowship of nine that was set to destroy a weapon of evil. Alas the fellowship broke, two of our companions fell and two were captured. We have been chasing orks who had taken them for a day already and we wish to reach them soon enough to be able to save our friends."

Drizzt closed his eyes. A few seconds before he could have sworn the reality he remembered was the true one. Now he wasn't so sure any more. He had nothing to confirm his memories and apart from them it seemed that it was Aragorn who was right. He decided to make a little test and tried to cover the nearest bush with a fearie light. Nothing happened. He tried again. Nothing. He sighed. Until he finds a more believable explanation he can as well act accordingly to Aragorn's theory if not accept it truly.

"You may be right, Aragorn, though it is surprising how some memories are detailed in my mind. It seems almost impossible. I'd have to have known something of a great importance though if someone bothered that much."

When he stopped the was a short silence, broken when Strider spoke again.

"I would hate the situation if it happened somewhere safe and there weren't so many problems to add to it. It's even worse now. Yet, we cannot forget what were we set out to do in the first place. Therefore I think we should concentrate on one more matter. Do you remember how to fight?"

Aragorn pointed Legolas's weapons left in an easy-reach distance from the elf.

Drizzt looked at the bow and two long, slightly curved knives. They weren't scimitars but could probably substitute them quite well. He took them up and tried them moving through a few fighting positions. He put them down never noticing a slightly impressed look on both Gimli's and Aragorn's faces. He took up the bow in order to try it as well. He picked a target and shot in it's direction. Perfectly. When he went to retrieve his arrow he heard Gimli muttering something for the first time since they'd met. It was just "Good thing he haven't lost his skills together with the memory." But it sounded as if the dwarf was really concerned about him. He smiled a little bit. When he came back he sat down and asked Aragorn to tell him as much about himself as he knew. It would be better to know everything just in case Aragorn's suspicion was to prove itself true.

After some time he realised it got completely dark. He could still see quite clearly (1) but noticeably worse in comparison to his eyesight during the day. This was a quite new experience for him. What's worse it seemed that infravision has just decided to leave him for some reason.

"Just perfect" he muttered and suddenly felt very lonely upon realising that he can't even call guen to keep him company and lighten his mood.

Catti-brie was seriously worried. Drizzt acted strangely, didn't recognise her and was looking around as if he saw the surface for the first time.

'Maybe something erased his memory back to the time when he was a child in Menzoberranzan?' she thought to herself. But then again she doubted that at any point of his life he spoke about his mother with such a love and respect. And he wouldn't speak common if her idea was true. They reached the mines now, never noticing Bruenor was left behind. It was dark inside but she didn't think Drizzt would mind, especially since they all knew the way by heart and she wanted to get him to his room as fast as possible. That's why she was really shocked when she suddenly heard Drizzt's firm voice.

"We can't go in there, my lady. It's too dark inside for us to se anything."

She looked at him with the unique look reserved only for the situations like a drow complaining that some place is too dark for him to enter.

"Drizzt, are you sure you are all right?"

"My lady, why is it you address me by this name? And could you please honour me with telling me yours?"

At that point Catti-brie began to panic.

"Da!" she shouted in the direction of Bruenor, who just came into view again and started running as he heard his daughter's yell loud enough to alert at least everybody in the mines "something is seriously wrong with Drizzt. He doesn't know who he is or who we are, he speaks strange, acts as if he has never seen the surface before and seems to be afraid of the dark."

She spoke that all on one breathe hardly noticing shocked faces of her father and everybody who came to see why she was yelling. She delicately placed her hand on her friend's forehead.

"He doesn't seem to have a fever though. What can be wrong with him?"

Legolas didn't know what to do. His eyes still weren't back to normal but he could now manage see more or less clearly what was surrounding him.

"My lady," he spoke "'I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about and why is that you are so concerned. As for entering, I admit I was rised in a palace placed in a cave but I'm afraid my nature allowed me to find it more pleasant to enter. Besides I'd like to know something about the place before walking inside. Are you convinced, my lady, that you haven't mistaken me for someone?"

"Drizzt." the young woman started trying to sound as calm as possible "There is no possible way I could have mistaken you for someone. Even if I didn't know you face by heart right now you are probably the only drow wearing green in the whole Fearun."

"I am the only what? My lady, I'm afraid you speak in a way hard for me to understand."

"Drow, Drizzt. _Drow_!" The fake calmness was impossible for the woman to hold "Don't you actually know who you are? Drow, dark elf." There was a clear desperation sounding in her voice as she ended the sentence.

"Dark elf? You took me for Moriquendi? My lady, I may have not seen the light of the trees but. . ."

__

"Moriquendi? _Light of the trees?!"_ Catti-brie would be probably equally or even less shocked if he told her he just had a friendly chat with a Lloth priestess. "Da, help me. We must take him to his room. He has some sort of hallucinations, I think."

(1) 'The Book of Lost Tales 2' by J. R. R. Tolkien says that Legolas had exceptionally good sight at night even for an elf.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Most obviously, I own nothing. Everything here belongs to J. R. R. Tolkien (well, Christopher Tolkien now, I suppose), R. A. Salvatore and a few other nameless people. I believe you can guess what is whose.

A/N: I'm very tired while typing it so please either overlook the mistakes I made or let me know about them so I can correct them.

+ Switched Places +

Chapter 3

In the Middle-Earth sun was about to rise. Drizzt realized that as soon as he woke up together with the fact that he never noticed falling asleep in the first place. It seemed more as if he got lost in thought for a whole night. It wasn't possible though to be in thoughts deep enough to completely ignore one's surroundings for a considerable time so the sleep was most probable explanation.

He watched as the first rays appeared on the horizon and wondered what surprises were still awaiting him. He tried to go through his memories to see some flaw, inconsequence or just lack of logic that could rove them fake but he found none. The best decision was to adjust to the situation as much as he could though.

He had no way to prove Aragorn's theory either right or wrong but he could see that, no matter what the truth was, his new companions had far more serious problems than this situation and he wasn't about to place more troubles on their shoulders if he could only help it. After all his memories, real or not, showed that he was able to solve problems by himself, even t now it seemed impossible to do anything about the situation. But even if that was to be the case he could at least try to adjust. For some time.

"Legolas, have you awoken yet?" come Aragorn's voice from his side

"Yes, Aragorn, I did. Didn't you notice though?"

"It's hard to tell, my friend. My sight isn't as good as yours and your kind is known to sleep with open eyes."

Drizzt nodded in acknowledgement of Aragorn's answer but at the same time his mind was racing once again. His kind? From all Aragorn said last night he was a surface elf now. And being an elf for al his life he never slept with open eyes and he doubted daithiri and ilithiri were much different in this particular matter.

He stopped dwelling on those thoughts as Strider started to wake Gimli. He smiled at a thought that no matter the situation or place dwarves were grumbling in the same way when woken just after sunrise.

Legolas was caught once again by the woman and led, without her listening to his objections, into the darkness in the cave. As soon as they went out of reach of the sunlight, when e was sure he won't be able to see anything net second, he suddenly discovered, with a great surprise, that suddenly everything ha saw was in white-red-black color scale but ha could see still Surprised by the discovery he ceased protesting and allowed the woman to lead him to a room that, from what she said, belonged to him.

"Now you go to bed, Drizzt, maybe whatever it is that happened to you will go away after you have some sleep" she ordered in the tone saying that any discussion was pointless and turned to leave

"My lady" he started, hoping to get some source of light to look around the room. His newly gained strange vision didn't allow him to see any details properly and he was hardly used to it yet "Would you mind giving me a lighten candle so I can see the room?"

The young woman just stood there looking at him for a long moment. Then se sighed in defeat.

"Whatever you say, Drizzt." She came to something he suspected to be a desk and lit a candle standing there "But I sure hope you'll get better tomorrow." She said before leaving the room. In her eyes Legolas could see both worry and disbelief. He could only assume that he was somehow the reason of both.

Now that the woman left he could finally look around the room. In the dim light of the candle he could see, surprisingly clear, that it was furnished rather ascetically.

He walked towards the desk, opened a drawer and started looking through tings, supposedly his, that were placed inside. Suddenly a worn-off book in the corner of the drawer caught his attention. He took it out and opened.

It appeared to be a diary of some sort. He hesitated for a moment if he should be reading this but e dismissed those thoughts reasoning with himself that not only was this supposed to be his diary since the woman said it was his room (no matter how obvious it was that it wasn't), so it was no sin reading it, but it could also help to solve the mystery of him being here in the first place.

He selected a page somewhere in the middle.

'For all the years I've spent on the surface I had to encounter distrust and fear caused by the color of my skin, my heritage. And much as I tried to cut all the connections with my past among my kind I found it impossible. After all I am what my life curved me to be and letting go of that would mean losing my own self. On every path we encounter both good and evil, even if they are not rightfully balanced. If I was to erase from my life everything connected to my kind I would have nothing. I would have to forget Zaknafein with everything I learned from him and I can only question myself if without him I would ever be able to become who I am now. – Drizzt Do'Urden'

Legolas stared at the words until he was half-expecting them to move under his gaze. He started to feel, every minute stronger, that he took somebody's, still warm, place. But how was this even possible?

He looked once again at the words he just read. The part about the color of his skin caught his attention. He slowly rose his hands to look at them. No matter what he expected to see it was not what he did. His skin was black, as deeply as possibly imaginable. For a long moment he could say nothing and ha just sat numbly on a chair, hardly able to gather his thoughts.

He sat there unmoving when the first question appeared in his mind – how could he not notice anything before? The only answer that came to his mind was that he was confused and was hardly concentrating on such 'details'. His subconscious probably just wrote the skin color off as him wearing gloves or something along the lines, without signalizing anything that could worry him to the conscious part of his mind.

Even he, as its' author had to admit the theory wasn't very believable or proved that he was very seriously disturbed by the situation.

He looked once more at the diary. Whoever the dwarf and the woman were it was entirely possible they were going to keep him in this room as long as they think there is no 'improvement' in his 'amnesia'. And if he intended to search for the reason he was here that would be quite an obstacle.

He sighed wondering how did Estel and Gimli react to his sudden disappearance. Then he adjusted the chair so it would be more comfortable to sit while reading. After all he intended to spend the whole night doing it.

A/N: I know it's very short but I decided to upload it because recently I hardly have time to work on any writing and I decided that a bit is always better than nothing. I hope you understand that.

And while I usually don't answer to reviews like that I decided that I should make an exception in order to clarify something

**Tsuchi**: As far as I remember Moriquendi was a term to refer neutrally to Avari and Umanyari. The term can be used to refer to Silvan (Woodland) Elves, Nandor (and Laiquendi) but then it's an offending term. Generally it's not used to refer to Sindars because

While Legolas usually thinks of himself as of Silvan Elf (_The Fellowship of the Ring_ II 3, _The Ring Goes South) _because of living among them he is, in fact a Sindar like his father (_The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien_ No 297; _History of Galadriel and Celeborn_ _in_ _Unfinished Tales). _And because of Thingol's origin (and the fact he was the king of Sindars of course) Sindars are not referred to as Moriquendi.

That's about it. But I'm afraid that while I'm not in favor of changing facts pointlessly some _lincentia poetica_ is unavoidable in a story like that so some changes are going to take place.


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